


Deal with a Deity

by TwistedTale



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Animal Transformation, Bets & Wagers, Blood and Gore, Child Abuse, F/F, F/M, God(dess) of Mischief, M/M, Manipulation, Matching wits with gods, Nobody - Freeform, Slytherin Harry Potter, Snark, Starts with year one, Under the Lake, Vernon Dursley Being an Asshole, long slow burn, over my dead body
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:21:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24988225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedTale/pseuds/TwistedTale
Summary: Making deals with gods is never recommended, but with a deal this good 11 year old Harry Potter can't help himself.He thought he wanted to be nobody, but really, all he wants is to be Harry again and he will make that happen no matter the cost.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Deal with a Deity

Chapter 1: Nobody

\--

Overwhelmed would be the best way to describe just Harry. 

No, not just Harry anymore. Harry  _ Potter  _ the  _ boy-who-lived _ . 

It was enough to make him want to scream, and had he been alone he might have. Harry’s eyes flicked over to the very unsubtle people watching him as, instead of screaming, he stuffed a piece of dinner roll into his mouth and chewed. Had he not been starving the staring might have put him off his lunch, but as it stood he  _ was  _ starving and after this jaunt into wizarding life who knew how long it would be until he could eat again.

The Dursleys were most definitely going to kill him.

He had suspected they might for years, played with the idea into the hows and whys of it in the same way another child may have played with toys. Of course, starvation was usually what he landed on, closely followed by blunt force trauma, although the second was slowly creeping into first place. Hagrid’s stunt with the pig tail would only shock them for so long, then they would be after him again. The wizarding weed in their garden of normalcy. 

Harry knew what was to be done with weeds, they were to be destroyed before they could fully take root. His aunt had been very clear on this fact the first time he had been set to gardening.

Harry took another bite of food.

Admittedly, he had been vindictively delighted at first when his cousin had gotten his-  _ ahem _ \- just deserts, and he had even felt safe for the first time in his life when Hagrid had placed his massive coat over his tiny frame. But Hagrid wasn’t staying, and Harry would be forced to face the consequences of the giant man’s actions alone.

Being Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, wasn’t going to be enough to protect him from his family.

He shifted his weight, and the heavy coins in his pocket gave quiet clinks. Could he try bribing the Dursleys with what he had? There was an idea with some merit. But would they take wizard gold? He should have exchanged some for muggle money, he thought gloomily. Perhaps he still could before he was returned to his family.

Another automatic bite of food.

Harry shut his eyes, exhausted. It wouldn’t look like that to the outside world, for all his stalkers knew he was savoring his lunch. 

Could he try and threaten his relatives? He gave a small hum and considered it.

It would be a gamble. If he threatened them and they called his bluff, he definitely wouldn’t live to see Hogwarts. It was a bad idea, he decided, leaning back against his chair. His mother must have told Aunt Petunia about the rules of underage magic. Even if he wanted to take the risk that she had forgotten, who knew if or when she would remember.

Running away was his favorite fantasy. He had the money to do so, and if he managed to get his vault key from Hagrid he would be set up for life. Painful hope made his heart clench, but cold reality crashed in.

Would Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, be allowed to go unsupervised? Hell, would he be able to protect himself from dark witches and wizards still after him for somehow defeating their Lord?

No, no he wouldn’t.

The unfairness brought up another stifled scream of frustration, but he was used to tramping down on such emotions. He was just Harry, who was to make no noise and pretend he didn’t exist, he was Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, and hero to the wizarding world.

His world had simply gone from one kind of prison to another, although this one was gilded at least.

There was a lot he would give if he could just be… nobody.

Unnatural silence filled the room, jerking the boy to wide-eyed alertness.

Sudden changes were never good.

Not a soul was moving. People, animals,  _ dust motes _ , all hung suspended in mid motion. Somehow even the air felt heavy with unnatural stillness, and he almost felt like he was breathing in cotton.

“It’s alright, I’ve only stopped time for a moment.” 

Harry jerked in surprise as a boy appeared in front of him.

The boy appeared to be around his age, and painfully average looking. Lanky dust brown hair, soft brown eyes, smooth even features that blended into a completely forgettable face. If Harry took his eyes off of him, that plain face seemed to grow fuzzy in his memory.

“Who are you?”

The strange boy smiled. “Nobody, but that’s not important.”

A boy who wouldn’t give his name who had the power to apparently stop time? No, not important at all.

As if he could hear Harry’s sarcasm the other child smiled.

“I didn’t know wizards could alter time.” Harry said with forced calm, casually looking over his exits. He would have to leave Hagrid behind, he thought with a pang of guilt, but then again wasn’t the older man going to abandon him back with his abusive relatives? Even after seeing how they were? It helped the guilt, but not by much.

The other boy’s bland smile widened and he took the seat across from Harry. 

“They can, but only for a few hours, and even then they can’t stop it entirely. If they tried to go beyond those parameters there would be consequences for the caster.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed. “Then why can you?”

“I am a god.”

Harry believed him.

It was alarming how quickly he did, but something in his bones- no something deeper than that- resonated the truth of it.

“Ok then, what do you want from me.”

“I want to help you.”

The green eyed boy frowned. “Help me, how-  _ why _ ?”

The god’s smile gained an edge to it, full of trouble. “I heard your wish, to be Nobody. I can help you with that.”

“Why?”

What could a god of all things gain from doing Harry a favor? Foreboding trickled down his spine as the god tilted his head.

“Can’t I take pity on an unfortunate mortal?”

Harry supposed a god could, but he had no clue why HE of all people warranted it. Then he flinched as he remembered his new title. Boy-who-lived, wizarding savior. He didn’t know what he had done to really warrant that either.

In those terms, why not add a god to his growing list of strangeness that was his life. But there was still something that bothered him.

“What do you get out of it?”

“Altruism?”

Harry frowned at the god, and the boring faced boy sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Think of godhood like a point system,” the young deity said, voice as bland as the rest of him. “The more we do, the more we manage, gives us rank, power. Giving you what you want will help me increase my standing.”

“I still don’t get how making me a nobody would help you.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would.” The god tapped his fingers against the table, and Harry’s attention was drawn to a simple thread bracelet around the other child’s wrist. It was bright red and gold and painfully familiar although Harry couldn’t explain why. The bracelet was quickly forgotten as the god snapped his fingers. 

“You know how I said godhood was like a point system?” Harry nodded. “Well think of humans as the points, everything we are, everything we gain, is through mortals and some are simply worth more then others.”

Harry supposed that made sense, although he was sure there was a lot not being said.

“But we are running out of time, I can’t keep everything still for much longer, Space and Time isn’t my domain. Will you take my offer, little mortal? Will you let me help you?”

Harry hesitated. “I won’t be the boy-who-lived anymore?”

“You will not.”

“I can be just Harry?”

“You will be nobody.” The deity agreed.

“I don’t want to be stuck at the Dursleys, I want to be free to live my life.”

“Consider it done.”

There was something missing here. Some strange itch in the back of his mind that was screaming that this was a trap. Nothing in his life was ever this easy, this simple. But the part of him that was all of eleven years old, abused, scared, and tired, was louder. 

“Ok.”

With a flash everything was back in motion.

Only, something was very wrong.

He was staring at himself. Only, a much more smug version of himself.

His body stretched languidly, bright green eyes curious as his body flexed his fingers, smacked his lips, and appeared to run a tongue over his teeth.

“Ready ter’ go ‘Arry?”

His body turned to look at the giant man who had approached their table with a winning smile.

“Of course Hagrid.”

It was then the big man noticed the other person sitting at the table.

“Whose this then?”

The smile on his body sharpened, becoming cruel.

“It’s Nobody, Hagrid. Nobody at all.”


End file.
